Before I Forget This
by Grac3
Summary: On a dreary London Monday morning, two old friends who had no idea that the other was still alive run into each other and end up talking about the old days, all those lifetimes ago. Title is from Before I Forget by Slipknot.


**Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin**

* * *

It was on a dreary Monday morning that he was walking down one of the many grey streets in London and collided with someone walking in the opposite direction. He grumbled the customary apology and made to move on with his life.

"Leon?"

He froze. It had been so long since he'd heard that name: so long that he had almost forgotten that it had once been his. But now it sprang back into his memory like the sound of two swords clashing together.

He turned.

"Merlin?"

~{merlin}~

Merlin had a studio flat a train ride away from the city centre. It was simple, but had everything a man in the twenty-first century needed.

It was the evening of that same day, and they were sitting side by side on the sofa, each with a beer in their hands.

"I thought you'd died when Camelot fell," Merlin said.

"I thought the same of you."

Merlin let out a deep sigh.

Leon looked up from his beer. Merlin didn't. "What happened? Why are we… still here?"

"I know why I am. Not sure why you are."

Leon looked away. "Is it… Did you keep yourself alive?"

Merlin snapped his head up. "You think I chose this? To live so long my memory's stretched to its limits? To live through all the horrors that humanity has come up with over the past millennium and a half? To outlive everyone I care about?"

Leon winced.

"I… Almost." Merlin looked away, and spoke in a meek voice. "Almost everyone I care about."

Leon gulped. "That… means a lot." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."

Merlin shook his head. "No, I am." He let out a breath. "I shouldn't have snapped."

A moment passed in silence.

"I get it, though."

Merlin looked at Leon. Leon kept his gaze on his beer.

"The anger. It comes round in cycles. But… what's the point? Being angry won't change anything."

Merlin sighed. "Feels like it will sometimes."

A pause. "I know."

Merlin chuckled. "I guess we have a lot to catch up on, don't we?"

"I guess we do. You start."

They took it in turns to tell stories of the hundreds of years that had passed: the adventures they'd been on, the jobs they'd had, the friends they'd made.

"Did you pay much attention to our legend?"

"A bit. Were you upset that you're hardly ever mentioned?"

"Not really. I never wanted to go down in history."

Merlin hummed in acknowledgement. "I was in history before I was even born."

Leon's smile faltered. "That must have been difficult."

"We had this conversation before."

Leon furrowed his brow. "Did we?"

Merlin nodded. "So many lifetimes ago. You came to speak to me when I got back from Avalon. You asked me to explain everything."

Leon furrowed his brow and thought for a moment, casting his mind back over all those years that he hadn't thought he would have lived. It snagged on a memory from so, so long ago, and he chuckled.

"Oh, I forgot about that."

Merlin shrugged a shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I've forgotten more than most people ever know."

They both laughed at that, and for a moment they were back in the armoury surrounded by their friends all laughing at a joke that one of the others had told.

When the illusion wore off, they were in Merlin's studio flat again, and there was no one but the two of them. Their laughter dulled into awkward chuckles, then fell silent altogether.

The ticking of the clock on the wall filled the flat, until Leon spoke.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'll forget… everyone."

Merlin shook his head. "I don't think that's possible. No matter what happens, we'll never forget what happened back then."

"I forgot that conversation."

"But that was after-" Merlin stopped. He coughed. Cleared his throat. Looked down at his beer bottle.

Leon sucked in a breath. "It never got easier, did it?"

Merlin swallowed. "Did you think it would?"

"Back then I did. When I was – ha! – young. I thought we would be reunited."

"We will be reunited."

The conviction in Merlin's voice made Leon turn his head. Merlin had looked up, and his eyes were hard with surety.

"You don't think…"

Leon trailed off. Merlin made no reaction.

Leon scoffed. "Those legends get so much wrong."

Merlin shook his head. "Not that. They're right about that."

Leon's expression faltered. "What are you talking about?"

Merlin shifted; he put his beer bottle on the coffee table and brought one leg up onto the sofa so that he was sitting facing Leon.

"The same prophecy that named me Emrys named Arthur the Once and Future King." He chuckled. "T. H. White didn't make it up."

Leon gulped. "You're sure?"

"I'm more sure about that than of anything in this world."

"I don't suppose the prophecy said when he would return?"

Merlin scoffed. "Of course not. It just said, 'when Albion's need is greatest'. Whatever that means." He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You don't have to wait alone, though."

Merlin looked up.

"It's been long enough living day to day without thinking that there was anything to wait for. I can't imagine how hard it's been for you."

Merlin gulped. His eyes glistened. "It's been awful."

They lapsed into silence. Merlin's eyes flicked down, for a second, for a single blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but Leon didn't blink. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

The material of his trousers rustled against the sofa cushion when he shifted, just an inch, towards the middle of the sofa, towards the gap between the two cushions.

Merlin closed the gap. He unfolded his arms and leaned forward, only reaching out to steady himself on Leon's shoulders once their lips were firmly locked together.

Leon moved his hands onto Merlin's hips, and pushed his lips apart with his own. Merlin moaned into his mouth and tangled his hand in his hair. Leon pulled him closer and leant forward until Merlin's head was lying on the cushion.

The sound of their lips smacking together joined that of the clock on the wall, until Leon pulled back just far enough for the tips of their noses to still be touching, and they could still feel each other's breath on their lips.

They stayed there for a moment, their eyes locked. Then Merlin brought his hand down from the back of Leon's head.

"What are we doing?" Leon breathed.

Merlin sighed. "I don't know."

Leon sat up, and Merlin did the same. They returned to their sides of the sofa and readjusted their hair.

"Not the smartest thing I've ever done," Leon admitted.

"Could have been stupider."

Leon hummed in agreement. He looked over at Merlin. "Have you ever… been with a man?"

Merlin nodded. "You?"

"Yes."

"Before or after?"

"After. Why?"

Merlin smirked.

Leon chuckled. "Someone I know?"

Merlin cleared his throat. "I don't kiss and tell."

"They'll be long dead by now."

Merlin's smile faltered. He gulped. "It was Gwaine."

Leon paused. "Oh. I didn't know."

"We were going to tell you all, but… There was a war on."

Leon put a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "They might all come back when Arthur does."

"Maybe. Hopefully."

He looked up.

"At least we don't have to wait alone anymore."


End file.
